Surrey Now - Dec 09, 2008

-DELTA/Work will start soon on what will be the largest mosque in
B.C.

Sandor Gyarmati

Surrey Now

It took longer than expected but work will soon begin in Delta on
what will become the largest mosque in B.C.

Approved by Delta council in early 2005, with a groundbreaking
several months later, a 25,000-square-foot mosque for the Ahmadiyya
Movement in Islam will be built on River Road early next year,
according to Rizwan Peerzada, president of the faith's Surrey-East
chapter.

"It will start pretty soon now. We are dealing with a number of
contractors and we are negotiating with them some final numbers, so
we feel this project will be done professionally with the best
people," Peerzada said.

Peerzada added that the delay in getting started was due to a
number of issues that had to be sorted out with the Corporation of
Delta as well as finding the right builder, but things are back on
track. It's expected the mosque could be completed as soon as late
2009.

"We're looking forward to servicing this community with a
beautiful structure," he said.

To be called Baitur Rahman, or House of Gracious God, the overall
facility will be bigger than 25,000-square-feet once a community
gymnasium is added to the site at 9750 River Road, said Peerzada.

"It will be for the community where children can come and play
basketball and it will be open for everyone, not just our community
members.

"The mosque will have a front structure, which will be the prayer
area, and behind it will be the gym," he explained.

The local Ahmadiyya Movement chapter purchased the land in 1995
and has been using an old elementary school building on the site as
its place of worship.

When the project was originally submitted to Delta, one of the
major stumbling blocks was the municipality's instance on certain
road improvements to handle additional traffic volume.

When the issue was resolved in 2005, Councillor Bruce McDonald
apologized to mosque members that the process took longer than
anticipated.

"The mosque will be an impressive addition to the area," he said
at the time.

The new mosque will be similar but smaller in scale than a
stunning 48,000-square-foot mosque the Ahmadiyya opened in Calgary
this summer.

The $15-million cost for the northeast Calgary facility was paid
for entirely by the members of the local Ahmadiyya community.

Peerzada said the Delta mosque would also be a grand structure
that will overlook the Fraser River.

"You can also see the beautiful structure from the Alex Fraser
Bridge. We're very excited and we hope to build more smaller worship
areas where people can come," he said.

"We want all people to come. We want to create dialogue and bring
harmony and commonality together, and this mosque will bring that
commonality and we would allow other faiths to worship in our
mosque."

The faith has branches in more than 178 countries with a
membership in the tens of millions.

AHMADIYYA 101:

The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam was established in 1889 by
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the small village of Qadian, located
in the Punjab, India. The Ahmadiyya are a controversial sect in
Islam because its members believe that Hadharat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
was a prophet, while most Muslims claim Mohammed was the last
messenger of God.